A picturesque street full of sights and smells set the stage for our client’s unforgettable night in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Often called the “Street of the Painted Balconies”, this two block stretch is where many Chinatown residents live and enjoy life. So it was no easy feat when ACCESS Northern California was able to convince the San Francisco City Government and the street’s residents and vendors to allow us to close the road for our client’s exclusive Chinatown Block Party.

We wanted this event to be cohesive with the surroundings and to showcase all that makes San Francisco’s Chinatown so famous while keeping all those affected by the event happy. To do this we involved the street’s merchants and city and local vendors wherever we could to give the event a true authentic feel. Wing C Lui, a Chinatown native and famous local Chinese two-string player came to welcome guests to the event while a local dance company performed a ribbon and Lion dance. The tea served was hand-selected from a local tea shop and paired with the evening’s food. The Tea shop owner even kept his store open for guests during the event in case they wanted to stop in for some additional tastings or to take some tea home with them. Dim sum and passed appetizers came from a local dim sum shop and not only did this make the shop owners happy but it cut down on the kitchen space we needed for catering which helped with the overall budget!

The largest challenge we had was convincing the fire department to sign off on the event. We got creative and were able to move forward with the party by having all the major event elements on wheels in case the street needed to be cleared. Ultimately, the wheels weren’t needed and the true Chinatown experience came to life.